Archive for February 2016

JATB is an initiative dedicated to advocate for better TB control. Over the years, my understanding has expanded and I am now able to see that TB control cannot be discussed or attempted in isolation and without a discussion on public health. Therefore JATB attempted to understand the linkages. Let’s begin with the definition of public health. The WHO definition of public health is as follows:

Public health refers to all organized measures (whether public or private) to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and focus on entire populations, not on individual patients or diseases. Thus, public health is concerned with the total system and not only the eradication of a particular disease. The three main public health functions are:

The assessment and monitoring of the health of communities and populations at risk to identify health problems and priorities.

The formulation of public policies designed to solve identified local and national health problems and priorities.

To assure that all populations have access to appropriate and cost-effective care, including health promotion and disease prevention services.

In order to expand the discussion, JATB spoke to Werner Soors, Unit Equity & Health, Research Associate and Bart Criel, Associate Professor, Institute for Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. What follows is a very insightful discussion on public health. The audio interview is reporduced below with a short introduction from Jasvinder Sehgal, a core member of JATB. The audio quality is poor in places; but we request your patience. JATB believes in using technology most easily available at hand and this recording was done on a humble mobile phone. It is however the content and not the container that matters.